Recipe: Chicken lattice

Today we'll be making together the chicken lattice: a tender chicken breast wrapped in bacon and zucchini, encased in a crispy puff pastry lattice, sprinkled with sesame seeds! The chicken lattice is a tasty main dish, a creative, new way of serving chicken... let's get to work!

Ingredients for 4 servings
Chicken lattice

• 1 lb (500 g) of chicken breast
• 8 slices of zucchini, about 7 oz (200 g)
• 8 slices of smoked bacon, about 1,8 oz (50 g)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 clove of garlic • extra virgin olive oil, to taste
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
For the pastry lattice
• 1 rectangle of ready-made puff pastry
• 1 egg
• sesame seeds, to taste

First of all, grill the zucchini on a hot grill pan; before that, wash the zucchini, trim the ends and cut into thin slices, about 1/10 inch (2-3 mm) thick, using a vegetable slicer or a knife. Grill on both sides... and set aside.

After grilling the zucchini, move on to the chicken: take a chicken breast, remove the bones -- including the wishbone at the top of the breast -- split in half and run your fingers along the cut to feel for any bones or gristle. Place half chicken breast on a cutting board, drizzle with a little oil... and rub both sides, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Rub again... and now wrap the chicken with the grilled zucchini; pick large, long zucchini if you can, so you'll be able to wrap the whole chicken. Alternate the zucchini and the bacon until the chicken is completely covered.... Now flip the chicken over and cover the other side.

After that, wrap the chicken in film, twisting the ends tightly to seal and form into a cylinder shape. If your zucchini and bacon slices are not long enough to wrap around the chicken, you can overlap 2 slices together. So cut off a piece of cling film and wrap it tightly. Now place the chicken in the fridge to rest for an hour and repeat with the other half of the chicken breast.

Put the olive oil in a pan, add the clove of garlic and the bay leaves and sauté until light brown, then add the chicken and let it brown on all sides for about 20 minutes on a very low flame.

The chicken breasts are browned, now transfer to a wire rack, that has been set over a plate, and allow to cool and drain the excess fat.

After the chicken breasts have cooled, move on to the puff pastry lattice: take a rectangle of ready-made puff pastry and place on a lightly floured pastry board; now separate the top third of the rectangle... and divide into 2 equal parts, that will be the base of our chicken lattice. Then run a lattice roller over the remaining puff pastry to create the lattice top. So dip the roller in flour... and create... the lattice pattern. Divide the pastry into 2 equal parts... and slightly stretch the dough... with your hands. If you don't have a lattice roller, you can cut into ¼-inch (½ cm) wide strips with a pastry wheel and weave them together, as for a lattice pie crust. Ok, now you can place the chicken breasts on the rectangles of puff pastry. Beat an egg in a bowl and brush the edges of the base... then cover each chicken breast with the lattice top.

You can tuck the excess underneath... or stick it to the base. Now brush the beaten egg on top, sprinkle with white sesame seeds, or you can use poppy or black sesame seeds, as you like. Tuck the edges under the base to seal and place the chicken lattice in a baking pan, lined with parchment paper. Now repeat with the other half of the chicken breast. After that bake in a preheated oven at 390°F (200°C) for about 40 minutes.

Enjoy, comment and follow !